Sneaky Frenchman Michel Gondry directs an episode of Flight of the Conchords

On Tuesday night I finally decided to polish off a two-day-old episode of Flight of Conchords, HBO's off-beat musical/comedy show. To my suprise, who do I see listed as director but Michel Gondry. Gondry lensed what I consider to be one of the best love stories ever put to celluloid, Eternal Sunshine Spotless Mind, having previously collaborated on music videos with Daft Punk, Bjork, the White Stripes and Radiohead. Like Fincher and Jonze, he paved the way for other, crapier, music video directors to break into features (I'm looking at you dude who directed Torque). I give dual credit for Spotless to Gondry and Kaufman, but Gondry's recent work, where he personally tends to the script, has been spotty at best (i.e. Be Kind, Rewind).

I assume, as was the case with J.J. Abrams and Joss Whedon directing episodes of The Office, that Gondry was a fan of the show, and asked if he could guest direct (I doubt a show like Conchords could meet his quote). The episode, 'Unnatural Love', was my favorite of the season, and definitely up there in the top three for the entire run. Gondry managed to incorporate his trademark surrealist imagery perfectly, with Bret and Jermaine using video controllers as their instruments. One of the music videos from the episode is embeded below.